Fae Isles 2 - Lord of Gold and Glory by Marshall Lisette

Author:Marshall, Lisette
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-10-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

I found Lyn in her workroom above the Wanderer’s Wing, pacing between the window and the back wall, muttering curses at every pile of books in her way. When I slipped into the room and shut the door behind me, she snapped around with what seemed an unreasonable amount of alarm for a phoenix used to a household full of alves.

‘Oh, Emelin! You’re early.’

‘I know,’ I said, collapsing onto our usual couch at the window and resolving not to get up for the next three hours. Every spot where Edored had hit me was screaming for attention, and it turned out there were more of them than I’d kept count of. I’d be a patchwork of bruises tomorrow. ‘Thought I’d broken enough noses for today.’

‘I’m sure Ylfreda agrees.’ She gave a bleak chuckle, settling herself on the nearest pile of sturdy leather encyclopaedias. ‘He didn’t look his best, I have to say. How many times did you break his nose, exactly?’

‘Seven, apparently.’

Lyn pursed her lips. ‘Rather thorough.’

‘I’d say he deserved it,’ I said weakly, hoping she at least would agree with me after his near-destruction of the library. She nodded, but the gesture came too slowly to be a heartfelt sign of agreement, and she didn’t speak.

Oh, Zera help me. ‘No?’

‘Oh, it’s doubtlessly been an educational experience for him.’ She sent me a wry smile. ‘And the gods know he could use it.’

‘But?’

Again she was silent for a few heartbeats, worrying her bottom lip as she examined the book-covered wall behind my head with unseeing eyes. Outside, in the fields below, nymphs were laughing, their voices as bright and sparkling as the alf light that fell through the study’s high windows.

Finally, Lyn cautiously said, ‘You do realise that Edored isn’t to blame for all of it, don’t you?’

All of it.

I should have known I wouldn’t have to bring up the subject. She may have painstakingly avoided any mention of Creon since his departure, wary as always of hurting my feelings … but now that the point was staring us right in the face, or rather punching us in the face, of course she knew exactly what had made me lose control in that training hall.

Knew, understood, and politely disagreed.

Even the alf light no longer seemed so bright. I closed my eyes, unable to bear the endless compassion in her gaze – that sympathy that gave me no choice but to admit she was right, that she wasn’t trying to clear Edored’s name just for the sake of old grudges and an overabundance of family honour.

‘I know,’ I muttered.

She waited a few heartbeats, then sighed and added, ‘I fully understand that Edored is much easier to blame, of course.’

As opposed to Creon, who’d found himself torn between leaving me and learning to deal with his powers and had chosen to run.

I knew.

I just didn’t want to know.

My life was much, much more manageable if Edored was the sole problem to blame. Whereas if the issue was not so much the rest of the world but rather Creon himself …

I’ll be back.

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